Why is Maths important?

There is not a day goes by when we will not use maths in some way and it is a fundamental pillar of thinking in our lives. It introduces children to concepts, skills and thinking strategies that are essential in everyday life and support learning across the curriculum. Through their understanding of maths, children begin to make sense of the numbers, patterns and shapes they see in the world around them, and they develop ways of handling data in an increasingly digital world. Children delight in using maths to solve problems and it makes a vital contribution to their development as learners. Studying maths stimulates curiosity, fosters creativity and equips children with the skills they need in life.

When is Maths taught?

We believe that teaching is most effective when the teacher explicitly explains material in small, carefully thought out steps, giving children lots of opportunity to practise specific skills before going onto the next small step. We ask questions and encourage discussion to check all the children’s responses, provide models and equipment, guide pupil practice and use scaffolds for difficult tasks.

What do we learn about in Maths?

EYFS

Maths is one of the four specific areas within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).  Our children learn about Maths through play and their daily experiences. And the more meaningful to them and hands on it is, the better. We follow a combination of White Rose Math's and this year we are also part of the NCTEM "Mastering Number" trial in Reception.  

Our environment (both indoors and out) is full of mathematical opportunities and has exciting things for children to explore, sort, compare, count, calculate and describe. We support them to be creative, critical thinkers, problem solvers and to have a go. Each specific area is divided into Early Learning Goals, for maths these are:

• Numerical Pattern and Number - Children learn to subtilise first and then they will count and discover the value of numbers, higher and lower. These skills support them to solve problems, use money and calculate more or less.
• Shape, Space and Measure - These skills support children to understand size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money and compare quantities, objects and solve problems. Children will learn about the power of pattern and create their own with natural objects, shapes and action patterns. 

KS1 and KS2 

The National Curriculum is organised under four attainment targets which provide a framework for describing what our children learn in Maths:

1. Using and Applying Mathematics, which is a key component of the curriculum and the basis for developing key skills.

2. Number and Algebra, which is taught through number and the number system, operations and calculations and money.

3. Shape, Space and Measure;

4. Statistics